Preemptive idle time read scans

ABSTRACT

Devices and techniques for initiating and controlling preemptive idle time read scans in a flash based storage system are disclosed. In an example, a memory device includes a NAND memory array and a memory controller to schedule and initiate read scans among multiple locations of the memory array, with such read scans being preemptively triggered during an idle (background) state of the memory device, thus reducing host latency during read and write operations in an active (foreground) state of the memory device. In an example, the optimization technique includes scheduling a read scan operation, monitoring an active or idle state of host IO operations, and preemptively initiating the read scan operation when entering an idle state, before the read scan operation is scheduled to occur. In further examples, the read scan may preemptively occur based on time-based scheduling, frequency-based conditions, or event-driven conditions triggering the read scan.

PRIORITY APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.16/381,682, filed Apr. 11, 2019, which is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 15/571,232, filed Nov. 1, 2017, now issued as U.S.Pat. No. 10,283,205, which is a U.S. National Stage Application under 35U.S.C. 371 from International Application No. PCT/CN2017/104945, filedSep. 30, 2017, all of which are incorporated herein by reference intheir entireties.

BACKGROUND

Memory devices are typically provided as internal, semiconductor,integrated circuits in computers or other electronic devices. There aremany different types of memory, including volatile and non-volatilememory.

Volatile memory requires power to maintain its data, and includesrandom-access memory (RAM), dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), orsynchronous dynamic random-access memory (SDRAM), among others.

Non-volatile memory can retain stored data when not powered, andincludes flash memory, read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasableprogrammable ROM (EEPROM), static RAM (SRAM), erasable programmable ROM(EPROM), resistance variable memory, such as phase-change random-accessmemory (PCRAM), resistive random-access memory (RRAM), magnetoresistiverandom-access memory (MRAM), or 3D XPoint™ memory, among others.

Flash memory is utilized as non-volatile memory for a wide range ofelectronic applications. Flash memory devices typically include one ormore groups of one-transistor, floating gate or charge trap memory cellsthat allow for high memory densities, high reliability, and low powerconsumption.

Two common types of flash memory array architectures include NAND andNOR architectures, named after the logic form in which the basic memorycell configuration of each is arranged. The memory cells of the memoryarray are typically arranged in a matrix. In an example, the gates ofeach floating gate memory cell in a row of the array are coupled to anaccess line (e.g., a word line). In a NOR architecture, the drains ofeach memory cell in a column of the array are coupled to a data line(e.g., a bit line). In a NAND architecture, the drains of each memorycell in a string of the array are coupled together in series, source todrain, between a source line and a bit line.

Both NOR and NAND architecture semiconductor memory arrays are accessedthrough decoders that activate specific memory cells by selecting theword line coupled to their gates. In a NOR architecture semiconductormemory array, once activated, the selected memory cells place their datavalues on bit lines, causing different currents to flow depending on thestate at which a particular cell is programmed. In a NAND architecturesemiconductor memory array, a high bias voltage is applied to adrain-side select gate (SGD) line. Word lines coupled to the gates ofthe unselected memory cells of each group are driven at a specified passvoltage (e.g., Vpass) to operate the unselected memory cells of eachgroup as pass transistors (e.g., to pass current in a manner that isunrestricted by their stored data values). Current then flows from thesource line to the bit line through each series coupled group,restricted only by the selected memory cells of each group, placingcurrent encoded data values of selected memory cells on the bit lines.

Each flash memory cell in a NOR or NAND architecture semiconductormemory array can be programmed individually or collectively to one or anumber of programmed states. For example, a single-level cell (SLC) canrepresent one of two programmed states (e.g., 1 or 0), representing onebit of data.

However, flash memory cells can also represent one of more than twoprogrammed states, allowing the manufacture of higher density memorieswithout increasing the number of memory cells, as each cell canrepresent more than one binary digit (e.g., more than one bit). Suchcells can be referred to as multi-state memory cells, multi-digit cells,or multi-level cells (MLCs). In certain examples, MLC can refer to amemory cell that can store two bits of data per cell (e.g., one of fourprogrammed states), a triple-level cell (TLC) can refer to a memory cellthat can store three bits of data per cell (e.g., one of eightprogrammed states), and a quad-level cell (QLC) can store four bits ofdata per cell. MLC is used herein in its broader context, to can referto any memory cell that can store more than one bit of data per cell(i.e., that can represent more than two programmed states).

Traditional memory arrays are two-dimensional (2D) structures arrangedon a surface of a semiconductor substrate. To increase memory capacityfor a given area, and to decrease cost, the size of the individualmemory cells has decreased. However, there is a technological limit tothe reduction in size of the individual memory cells, and thus, to thememory density of 2D memory arrays. In response, three-dimensional (3D)memory structures, such as 3D NAND architecture semiconductor memorydevices, are being developed to further increase memory density andlower memory cost.

Such 3D NAND devices often include strings of storage cells, coupled inseries (e.g., drain to source), between one or more source-side selectgates (SGSs) proximate a source, and one or more drain-side select gates(SGDs) proximate a bit line. In an example, the SGSs or the SGDs caninclude one or more field-effect transistors (FETs) or metal-oxidesemiconductor (MOS) structure devices, etc. In some examples, thestrings will extend vertically, through multiple vertically spaced tierscontaining respective word lines. A semiconductor structure (e.g., apolysilicon structure) may extend adjacent a string of storage cells toform a channel for the storages cells of the string. In the example of avertical string, the polysilicon structure may be in the form of avertically extending pillar. In some examples the string may be“folded,” and thus arranged relative to a U-shaped pillar. In otherexamples, multiple vertical structures may be stacked upon one anotherto form stacked arrays of storage cell strings.

Memory arrays or devices can be combined together to form a storagevolume of a memory system, such as a solid-state drive (SSD), aUniversal Flash Storage (UFS™) device, a MultiMediaCard (MMC)solid-state storage device, an embedded MMC device (eMMC™), etc. An SSDcan be used as, among other things, the main storage device of acomputer, having advantages over traditional hard drives with movingparts with respect to, for example, performance, size, weight,ruggedness, operating temperature range, and power consumption. Forexample, SSDs can have reduced seek time, latency, or other delayassociated with magnetic disk drives (e.g., electromechanical, etc.).SSDs use non-volatile memory cells, such as flash memory cells toobviate internal battery supply requirements, thus allowing the drive tobe more versatile and compact.

An SSD can include a number of memory devices, including a number ofdies or logical units (e.g., logical unit numbers or LUNs), and caninclude one or more processors or other controllers performing logicfunctions required to operate the memory devices or interface withexternal systems. Such SSDs may include one or more flash memory die,including a number of memory arrays and peripheral circuitry thereon.The flash memory arrays can include a number of blocks of memory cellsorganized into a number of physical pages. In many examples, the SSDswill also include DRAM or SRAM (or other forms of memory die or othermemory structures). The SSD can receive commands from a host inassociation with memory operations, such as read or write operations totransfer data (e.g., user data and associated integrity data, such aserror data and address data, etc.) between the memory devices and thehost, or erase operations to erase data from the memory devices.

In NAND flash based storage systems, the read voltage threshold (Vt)that is required to successfully perform read operations is constantlysubjected to shifts. These shifts may occur due to well-known stresseson the NAND flash such as Read Disturb, Data Retention,Cross-temperature effect, among other conditions. Further, differentNAND blocks within a memory array may experience a varying amount ofstress that induces a varying amount of charge loss or charge gain;likewise, different NAND blocks of a memory array are often written andread at different temperatures. As a result, a mismatch between the NANDVt and the read voltage actually used by a storage system occur in manyscenarios, and techniques for read voltage calibration are used by NANDstorage systems to adjust the read voltage in accordance with NAND Vt.

Existing approaches for tracking the NAND health and the correspondingVt changes include tracking a raw bit error rate (RBER) trend, such as aRBER trend determined from reading pages in NAND blocks with a readscan. The objective of performing read scans is to provide real timeNAND RBER feedback, such that the system can optimally calibrate NANDread voltages to minimize error handling trigger rate, or initiatepre-emptive action to mitigate data integrity risk induced by variousstress factors in the NAND blocks. However, performing read scans oftenimposes a performance overhead for the storage system, and increaseshost command latency.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, like numeralsmay describe similar components in different views. Like numerals havingdifferent letter suffixes may represent different instances of similarcomponents. The drawings illustrate generally, by way of example, butnot by way of limitation, various embodiments discussed in the presentdocument.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of an environment including a memorydevice.

FIGS. 2-3 illustrate schematic diagrams of an example of a 3D NANDarchitecture semiconductor memory array.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example block diagram of a memory module.

FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of an example system including amemory device adapted for implementing preemptive idle time read scanoperations.

FIG. 6A illustrates a timeline of an example read scan trigger criteriaimplementing time-based condition triggers for preemptive idle time readscan operations in a memory device.

FIG. 6B illustrates a timeline of an example read scan trigger criteriaimplementing event-based condition triggers for preemptive idle timeread scan operations in a memory device.

FIG. 7 illustrates a flowchart of an example set of operations adaptedfor performing preemptive idle time read scan operations in a memorydevice.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a machine uponwhich one or more embodiments may be implemented.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The systems, processes, and configurations discussed herein relate tooptimization techniques for triggering and performing preemptive idletime read scans in a NAND memory device. Specifically, exampletechniques are disclosed that use window-based criteria, instead ofabsolute criteria, to preemptively trigger read scans when applicableduring idle states of host read/write drive activity. The performance ofread scans during such idle states may reduce the impact of read scanson host read/write performance. Further, example techniques aredisclosed that enable the window-based trigger criteria to be used inresponse to time triggers, frequency-based triggers, or event-basedtriggers. Still further, the preemptive read scan triggers may be usedto provide a memory system with the opportunity to perform additionalmaintenance tasks in the background during idle states, thus alleviatingthe host IO performance impact of conducting such maintenance tasks inthe foreground.

Electronic devices, such as mobile electronic devices (e.g., smartphones, tablets, etc.), electronic devices for use in automotiveapplications (e.g., automotive sensors, control units, driver-assistancesystems, passenger safety or comfort systems, etc.), andinternet-connected appliances or devices (e.g., internet-of-things (IoT)devices, etc.), have varying storage needs depending on, among otherthings, the type of electronic device, use environment, performanceexpectations, etc.

Electronic devices can be broken down into several main components: aprocessor (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU) or other mainprocessor); memory (e.g., one or more volatile or non-volatilerandom-access memory (RAM) memory device, such as dynamic RAM (DRAM),mobile or low-power double-data-rate synchronous DRAM (DDR SDRAM),etc.); and a storage device (e.g., non-volatile memory (NVM) device,such as flash memory, read-only memory (ROM), an SSD, an MMC, or othermemory card structure or assembly, etc.). In certain examples,electronic devices can include a user interface (e.g., a display,touch-screen, keyboard, one or more buttons, etc.), a graphicsprocessing unit (GPU), a power management circuit, a baseband processoror one or more transceiver circuits, etc.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of an environment 100 including a hostdevice 105 and a memory device 110 configured to communicate over acommunication interface. The host device 105 or the memory device 110may be included in a variety of products 150, such as Internet of Things(IoT) devices (e.g., a refrigerator or other appliance, sensor, motor oractuator, mobile communication device, automobile, drone, etc.) tosupport processing, communications, or control of the product 150.

The memory device 110 includes a memory controller 115 and a memoryarray 120 including, for example, a number of individual memory die(e.g., a stack of three-dimensional (3D) NAND die). In 3D architecturesemiconductor memory technology, vertical structures are stacked,increasing the number of tiers, physical pages, and accordingly, thedensity of a memory device (e.g., a storage device). In an example, thememory device 110 can be a discrete memory or storage device componentof the host device 105. In other examples, the memory device 110 can bea portion of an integrated circuit (e.g., system on a chip (SOC), etc.),stacked or otherwise included with one or more other components of thehost device 105.

One or more communication interfaces can be used to transfer databetween the memory device 110 and one or more other components of thehost device 105, such as a Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA)interface, a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) interface,a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface, a Universal Flash Storage (UFS)interface, an eMMC™ interface, or one or more other connectors orinterfaces. The host device 105 can include a host system, an electronicdevice, a processor, a memory card reader, or one or more otherelectronic devices external to the memory device 110. In some examples,the host 105 may be a machine having some portion, or all, of thecomponents discussed in reference to the machine 800 of FIG. 8.

The memory controller 115 can receive instructions from the host 105,and can communicate with the memory array, such as to transfer data to(e.g., write or erase) or from (e.g., read) one or more of the memorycells, planes, sub-blocks, blocks, or pages of the memory array. Thememory controller 115 can include, among other things, circuitry orfirmware, including one or more components or integrated circuits. Forexample, the memory controller 115 can include one or more memorycontrol units, circuits, or components configured to control accessacross the memory array 120 and to provide a translation layer betweenthe host 105 and the memory device 110. The memory controller 115 caninclude one or more input/output (I/O) circuits, lines, or interfaces totransfer data to or from the memory array 120. The memory controller 115can include a memory manager 125 and an array controller 135.

The memory manager 125 can include, among other things, circuitry orfirmware, such as a number of components or integrated circuitsassociated with various memory management functions. For purposes of thepresent description example memory operation and management functionswill be described in the context of NAND memory. Persons skilled in theart will recognize that other forms of non-volatile memory may haveanalogous memory operations or management functions. Such NANDmanagement functions include wear leveling (e.g., garbage collection orreclamation), error detection or correction, block retirement, or one ormore other memory management functions. The memory manager 125 can parseor format host commands (e.g., commands received from a host) intodevice commands (e.g., commands associated with operation of a memoryarray, etc.), or generate device commands (e.g., to accomplish variousmemory management functions) for the array controller 135 or one or moreother components of the memory device 110.

The memory manager 125 can include a set of management tables 130configured to maintain various information associated with one or morecomponent of the memory device 110 (e.g., various information associatedwith a memory array or one or more memory cells coupled to the memorycontroller 115). For example, the management tables 130 can includeinformation regarding block age, block erase count, error history, orone or more error counts (e.g., a write operation error count, a readbit error count, a read operation error count, an erase error count,etc.) for one or more blocks of memory cells coupled to the memorycontroller 115. In certain examples, if the number of detected errorsfor one or more of the error counts is above a threshold, the bit errorcan be referred to as an uncorrectable bit error. The management tables130 can maintain a count of correctable or uncorrectable bit errors,among other things.

The array controller 135 can include, among other things, circuitry orcomponents configured to control memory operations associated withwriting data to, reading data from, or erasing one or more memory cellsof the memory device 110 coupled to the memory controller 115. Thememory operations can be based on, for example, host commands receivedfrom the host 105, or internally generated by the memory manager 125(e.g., in association with wear leveling, error detection or correction,etc.).

The array controller 135 can include an error correction code (ECC)component 140, which can include, among other things, an ECC engine orother circuitry configured to detect or correct errors associated withwriting data to or reading data from one or more memory cells of thememory device 110 coupled to the memory controller 115. The memorycontroller 115 can be configured to actively detect and recover fromerror occurrences (e.g., bit errors, operation errors, etc.) associatedwith various operations or storage of data, while maintaining integrityof the data transferred between the host 105 and the memory device 110,or maintaining integrity of stored data (e.g., using redundant RAIDstorage, etc.), and can remove (e.g., retire) failing memory resources(e.g., memory cells, memory arrays, pages, blocks, etc.) to preventfuture errors.

The memory array 120 can include several memory cells arranged in, forexample, a number of devices, planes, sub-blocks, blocks, or pages. Asone example, a 48 GB TLC NAND memory device can include 18,592 bytes (B)of data per page (16,384+2208 bytes), 1536 pages per block, 548 blocksper plane, and 4 or more planes per device. As another example, a 32 GBMLC memory device (storing two bits of data per cell (i.e., 4programmable states)) can include 18,592 bytes (B) of data per page(16,384+2208 bytes), 1024 pages per block, 548 blocks per plane, and 4planes per device, but with half the required write time and twice theprogram/erase (P/E) cycles as a corresponding TLC memory device. Otherexamples can include other numbers or arrangements. In some examples, amemory device, or a portion thereof, may be selectively operated in SLCmode, or in a desired MLC mode (such as TLC, QLC, etc.).

In operation, data is typically written to or read from the NAND memorydevice 110 in pages, and erased in blocks. However, one or more memoryoperations (e.g., read, write, erase, etc.) can be performed on largeror smaller groups of memory cells, as desired. The data transfer size ofa NAND memory device 110 is typically referred to as a page, whereas thedata transfer size of a host is typically referred to as a sector.

Although a page of data can include a number of bytes of user data(e.g., a data payload including a number of sectors of data) and itscorresponding metadata, the size of the page often refers only to thenumber of bytes used to store the user data. As an example, a page ofdata having a page size of 4 KB may include 4 KB of user data (e.g., 8sectors assuming a sector size of 512 B) as well as a number of bytes(e.g., 32 B, 54 B, 224 B, etc.) of metadata corresponding to the userdata, such as integrity data (e.g., error detecting or correcting codedata), address data (e.g., logical address data, etc.), or othermetadata associated with the user data.

Different types of memory cells or memory arrays 120 can provide fordifferent page sizes, or may require different amounts of metadataassociated therewith. For example, different memory device types mayhave different bit error rates, which can lead to different amounts ofmetadata necessary to ensure integrity of the page of data (e.g., amemory device with a higher bit error rate may require more bytes oferror correction code data than a memory device with a lower bit errorrate). As an example, a multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash device mayhave a higher bit error rate than a corresponding single-level cell(SLC) NAND flash device. As such, the MLC device may require moremetadata bytes for error data than the corresponding SLC device.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example schematic diagram of a 3D NANDarchitecture semiconductor memory array 200 including a number ofstrings of memory cells (e.g., first-third A₀ memory strings205A₀-207A₀, first-third A_(n) memory strings 205A_(n)-207A_(n),first-third B₀ memory strings 205B₀-207B₀, first-third B_(n) memorystrings 205B_(n)-207B_(n), etc.), organized in blocks (e.g., block A201A, block B 201B, etc.) and sub-blocks (e.g., sub-block A₀ 201A₀,sub-block A_(n) 201A_(n), sub-block B₀ 201B₀, sub-block B_(n) 201B_(n),etc.). The memory array 200 represents a portion of a greater number ofsimilar structures that would typically be found in a block, device, orother unit of a memory device.

Each string of memory cells includes a number of tiers of charge storagetransistors (e.g., floating gate transistors, charge-trappingstructures, etc.) stacked in the Z direction, source to drain, between asource line (SRC) 235 or a source-side select gate (SGS) (e.g.,first-third A₀ SGS 231A₀-233A₀, first-third A_(n) SGS 231A_(n)-233A_(n),first-third B₀ SGS 231B₀-233B₀, first-third B_(n) SGS 231B_(n)-233B_(n),etc.) and a drain-side select gate (SGD) (e.g., first-third A₀ SGD226A₀-228A₀, first-third A_(n) SGD 226A_(n)-228A_(n), first-third B₀ SGD226B₀-228B₀, first-third B, SGD 226B_(n)-228B_(n), etc.). Each string ofmemory cells in the 3D memory array can be arranged along the Xdirection as data lines (e.g., bit lines (BL) BL0-BL2 220-222), andalong the Y direction as physical pages.

Within a physical page, each tier represents a row of memory cells, andeach string of memory cells represents a column. A sub-block can includeone or more physical pages. A block can include a number of sub-blocks(or physical pages) (e.g., 128, 256, 384, etc.). Although illustratedherein as having two blocks, each block having two sub-blocks, eachsub-block having a single physical page, each physical page having threestrings of memory cells, and each string having 8 tiers of memory cells,in other examples, the memory array 200 can include more or fewerblocks, sub-blocks, physical pages, strings of memory cells, memorycells, or tiers. For example, each string of memory cells can includemore or fewer tiers (e.g., 16, 32, 64, 128, etc.), as well as one ormore additional tiers of semiconductor material above or below thecharge storage transistors (e.g., select gates, data lines, etc.), asdesired. As an example, a 48 GB TLC NAND memory device can include18,592 bytes (B) of data per page (16,384+2208 bytes), 1536 pages perblock, 548 blocks per plane, and 4 or more planes per device.

Each memory cell in the memory array 200 includes a control gate (CG)coupled to (e.g., electrically or otherwise operatively connected to) anaccess line (e.g., word lines (WL) WL0₀-WL7₀ 210A-217A, WL0₁-WL7₁210B-217B, etc.), which collectively couples the control gates (CGs)across a specific tier, or a portion of a tier, as desired. Specifictiers in the 3D memory array, and accordingly, specific memory cells ina string, can be accessed or controlled using respective access lines.Groups of select gates can be accessed using various select lines. Forexample, first-third A₀ SGD 226A₀-228A₀ can be accessed using an A₀ SGDline SGDA₀ 225A₀, first-third A_(n) SGD 226A_(n)-228A_(n) can beaccessed using an A_(n) SGD line SGDA_(n) 225A_(n), first-third B₀ SGD226B₀-228B₀ can be accessed using an B₀ SGD line SGDB₀ 225B₀, andfirst-third B_(n) SGD 226B_(n)-228B_(n) can be accessed using an B_(n)SGD line SGDB_(n) 225B_(n). First-third A₀ SGS 231A₀-233A₀ andfirst-third A_(n) SGS 231A_(n)-233A_(n) can be accessed using a gateselect line SGS₀ 230A, and first-third B₀ SGS 231B₀-233B₀ andfirst-third B_(n) SGS 231B_(n)-233B_(n) can be accessed using a gateselect line SGS₁ 230B.

In an example, the memory array 200 can include a number of levels ofsemiconductor material (e.g., polysilicon, etc.) configured to couplethe control gates (CGs) of each memory cell or select gate (or a portionof the CGs or select gates) of a respective tier of the array. Specificstrings of memory cells in the array can be accessed, selected, orcontrolled using a combination of bit lines (BLs) and select gates,etc., and specific memory cells at one or more tiers in the specificstrings can be accessed, selected, or controlled using one or moreaccess lines (e.g., word lines).

FIG. 3 illustrates an example schematic diagram of a portion of a NANDarchitecture semiconductor memory array 300 including a plurality ofmemory cells 302 arranged in a two-dimensional array of strings (e.g.,first-third strings 305-307) and tiers (e.g., illustrated as respectiveword lines (WL) WL0-WL7 310-317, a drain-side select gate (SGD) line325, a source-side select gate (SGS) line 330, etc.), and senseamplifiers or devices 360. For example, the memory array 300 canillustrate an example schematic diagram of a portion of one physicalpage of memory cells of a 3D NAND architecture semiconductor memorydevice, such as illustrated in FIG. 2.

Each string of memory cells is coupled to a source line (SRC) using arespective source-side select gate (SGS) (e.g., first-third SGS331-333), and to a respective data line (e.g., first-third bit lines(BL) BL0-BL2 320-322) using a respective drain-side select gate (SGD)(e.g., first-third SGD 326-328). Although illustrated with 8 tiers(e.g., using word lines (WL) WL0-WL7 310-317) and three data lines(BL0-BL2 326-328) in the example of FIG. 3, other examples can includestrings of memory cells having more or fewer tiers or data lines, asdesired.

In a NAND architecture semiconductor memory array, such as the examplememory array 300, the state of a selected memory cell 302 can beaccessed by sensing a current or voltage variation associated with aparticular data line containing the selected memory cell. The memoryarray 300 can be accessed (e.g., by a control circuit, one or moreprocessors, digital logic, etc.) using one or more drivers. In anexample, one or more drivers can activate a specific memory cell, or setof memory cells, by driving a particular potential to one or more datalines (e.g., bit lines BL0-BL2), access lines (e.g., word linesWL0-WL7), or select gates, depending on the type of operation desired tobe performed on the specific memory cell or set of memory cells.

To program or write data to a memory cell, a programming voltage (Vpgm)(e.g., one or more programming pulses, etc.) can be applied to selectedword lines (e.g., WL4), and thus, to a control gate of each memory cellcoupled to the selected word lines (e.g., first-third control gates(CGs) 341-343 of the memory cells coupled to WL4). Programming pulsescan begin, for example, at or near 15V, and, in certain examples, canincrease in magnitude during each programming pulse application. Whilethe program voltage is applied to the selected word lines, a potential,such as a ground potential (e.g., Vss), can be applied to the data lines(e.g., bit lines) and substrates (and thus the channels, between thesources and drains) of the memory cells targeted for programming,resulting in a charge transfer (e.g., direct injection orFowler-Nordheim (FN) tunneling, etc.) from the channels to the floatinggates of the targeted memory cells.

In contrast, a pass voltage (Vpass) can be applied to one or more wordlines having memory cells that are not targeted for programming, or aninhibit voltage (e.g., Vcc) can be applied to data lines (e.g., bitlines) having memory cells that are not targeted for programming, forexample, to inhibit charge from being transferred from the channels tothe floating gates of such non-targeted memory cells. The pass voltagecan be variable, depending, for example, on the proximity of the appliedpass voltages to a word line targeted for programming. The inhibitvoltage can include a supply voltage (Vcc), such as a voltage from anexternal source or supply (e.g., a battery, an AC-to-DC converter,etc.), relative to a ground potential (e.g., Vss).

As an example, if a programming voltage (e.g., 15V or more) is appliedto a specific word line, such as WL4, a pass voltage of 10V can beapplied to one or more other word lines, such as WL3, WL5, etc., toinhibit programming of non-targeted memory cells, or to retain thevalues stored on such memory cells not targeted for programming. As thedistance between an applied program voltage and the non-targeted memorycells increases, the pass voltage required to refrain from programmingthe non-targeted memory cells can decrease. For example, where aprogramming voltage of 15V is applied to WL4, a pass voltage of 10V canbe applied to WL3 and WL5, a pass voltage of 8V can be applied to WL2and WL6, a pass voltage of 7V can be applied to WL1 and WL7, etc. Inother examples, the pass voltages, or number of word lines, etc., can behigher or lower, or more or less.

The sense amplifiers 360, coupled to one or more of the data lines(e.g., first, second, or third bit lines (BL0-BL2) 320-322), can detectthe state of each memory cell in respective data lines by sensing avoltage or current on a particular data line.

Between applications of one or more programming pulses (e.g., Vpgm), averify operation can be performed to determine if a selected memory cellhas reached its intended programmed state. If the selected memory cellhas reached its intended programmed state, it can be inhibited fromfurther programming. If the selected memory cell has not reached itsintended programmed state, additional programming pulses can be applied.If the selected memory cell has not reached its intended programmedstate after a particular number of programming pulses (e.g., a maximumnumber), the selected memory cell, or a string, block, or pageassociated with such selected memory cell, can be marked as defective.

To erase a memory cell or a group of memory cells (e.g., erasure istypically performed in blocks or sub-blocks), an erasure voltage (Vers)(e.g., typically Vpgm) can be applied to the substrates (and thus thechannels, between the sources and drains) of the memory cells targetedfor erasure (e.g., using one or more bit lines, select gates, etc.),while the word lines of the targeted memory cells are kept at apotential, such as a ground potential (e.g., Vss), resulting in a chargetransfer (e.g., direct injection or Fowler-Nordheim (FN) tunneling,etc.) from the floating gates of the targeted memory cells to thechannels.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example block diagram of a memory device 400including a memory array 402 having a plurality of memory cells 404, andone or more circuits or components to provide communication with, orperform one or more memory operations on, the memory array 402. Thememory device 400 can include a row decoder 412, a column decoder 414,sense amplifiers 420, a page buffer 422, a selector 424, an input/output(I/O) circuit 426, and a memory control unit 430.

The memory cells 404 of the memory array 402 can be arranged in blocks,such as first and second blocks 402A, 402B. Each block can includesub-blocks. For example, the first block 402A can include first andsecond sub-blocks 402A₀, 402A_(n), and the second block 402B can includefirst and second sub-blocks 402B₀, 402B_(n). Each sub-block can includea number of physical pages, each page including a number of memory cells404. Although illustrated herein as having two blocks, each block havingtwo sub-blocks, and each sub-block having a number of memory cells 404,in other examples, the memory array 402 can include more or fewerblocks, sub-blocks, memory cells, etc. In other examples, the memorycells 404 can be arranged in a number of rows, columns, pages,sub-blocks, blocks, etc., and accessed using, for example, access lines406, first data lines 410, or one or more select gates, source lines,etc.

The memory control unit 430 can control memory operations of the memorydevice 400 according to one or more signals or instructions received oncontrol lines 432, including, for example, one or more clock signals orcontrol signals that indicate a desired operation (e.g., write, read,erase, etc.), or address signals (A0-AX) received on one or more addresslines 416. One or more devices external to the memory device 400 cancontrol the values of the control signals on the control lines 432, orthe address signals on the address line 416. Examples of devicesexternal to the memory device 400 can include, but are not limited to, ahost, a memory controller, a processor, or one or more circuits orcomponents not illustrated in FIG. 4.

The memory device 400 can use access lines 406 and first data lines 410to transfer data to (e.g., write or erase) or from (e.g., read) one ormore of the memory cells 404. The row decoder 412 and the column decoder414 can receive and decode the address signals (A0-AX) from the addressline 416, can determine which of the memory cells 404 are to beaccessed, and can provide signals to one or more of the access lines 406(e.g., one or more of a plurality of word lines (WL0-WLm)) or the firstdata lines 410 (e.g., one or more of a plurality of bit lines(BL0-BLn)), such as described above.

The memory device 400 can include sense circuitry, such as the senseamplifiers 420, configured to determine the values of data on (e.g.,read), or to determine the values of data to be written to, the memorycells 404 using the first data lines 410. For example, in a selectedstring of memory cells 404, one or more of the sense amplifiers 420 canread a logic level in the selected memory cell 404 in response to a readcurrent flowing in the memory array 402 through the selected string tothe data lines 410.

One or more devices external to the memory device 400 can communicatewith the memory device 400 using the I/O lines (DQ0-DQN) 408, addresslines 416 (A0-AX), or control lines 432. The input/output (I/O) circuit426 can transfer values of data in or out of the memory device 400, suchas in or out of the page buffer 422 or the memory array 402, using theI/O lines 408, according to, for example, the control lines 432 andaddress lines 416. The page buffer 422 can store data received from theone or more devices external to the memory device 400 before the data isprogrammed into relevant portions of the memory array 402, or can storedata read from the memory array 402 before the data is transmitted tothe one or more devices external to the memory device 400.

The column decoder 414 can receive and decode address signals (A0-AX)into one or more column select signals (CSEL1-CSELn). The selector 424(e.g., a select circuit) can receive the column select signals(CSEL1-CSELn) and select data in the page buffer 422 representing valuesof data to be read from or to be programmed into memory cells 404.Selected data can be transferred between the page buffer 422 and the I/Ocircuit 426 using second data lines 418.

The memory control unit 430 can receive positive and negative supplysignals, such as a supply voltage (Vcc) 434 and a negative supply (Vss)436 (e.g., a ground potential), from an external source or supply (e.g.,an internal or external battery, an AC-to-DC converter, etc.). Incertain examples, the memory control unit 430 can include a regulator428 to internally provide positive or negative supply signals.

The following techniques and configurations provide techniquesimplemented within a NAND memory device for aspects of read scanoptimization, including scheduling, triggering, and control of such readscan operations. The techniques and configurations discussed herein maybe specifically applicable to a 3D NAND flash based storage system, suchas a system embodying the 3D NAND architecture features discussed above.However, it will be apparent that the disclosed read scan optimizationtechniques and configurations may also apply to other forms of NANDflash devices, including with components of NAND flash devices appliedin other form factors or arrangements.

In NAND flash based storage systems, a NAND memory array includesvarious blocks that experience different amount of charge loss andcharge gain, and various blocks that are programmed (written) atdifferent temperatures. Thus, the Vt to read any particular block orarea of the memory array may vary from another block or another area ofthe memory array. Further, the Vt for a particular block or area ofmemory is constantly subjected to shifts due to stresses, and as aresult, Vt may shift in either direction.

Read disturb is an example of a stress occurring on a NAND flash devicethat affects Vt. As a host or application retrieves certain data fromthe flash device, the read disturb stress may build up if the hostutilizes a particularly high read rate or read intensive application ofdata (depending on how the data is scattered within the flash device).For instance, if a logical block address (LBA) maps to a particularphysical location of a NAND block, because of the biasing conditionwithin the block, stresses may be induced on the unselected word linesthat cause the Vt of the memory cells to shift.

Cross-temperature effect is another example of a stress occurring on aNAND flash device that affects Vt. Cross-temperature effect causes ashift in the cell Vt in the NAND blocks, to the right or left, as aresult of a temperature difference between the time of writing and thetime of reading. For instance, as data is written to a NAND flash device(e.g., a SSD drive, or SD/MMC card), the Vt needed to read the data isbased on the ambient temperature when the data was is written. However,because the data may remain resident on the flash device for long periodof time, the flash device is less likely to be read at the sametemperature.

A mismatch between a read voltage used to read a block and the Vt for aparticular block will result in data errors. One representation of dataerrors, the fail bit count, may be measured in a NAND storage system asa “raw bit error rate” (RBER). As a result, RBER provides a function ofthe mismatch between the read voltage and the Vt. Thus, in the operationof many existing NAND flash-based storage systems, the RBER provides ameasurement to determine whether read voltage is incorrect, and whethervoltage calibration should be conducted.

NAND health, as indicated by a trend or measurement of RBER, can betracked by reading pages from various blocks of the NAND memory array.This technique for reading pages is commonly referred to as a “readscan”, and involves reading a random or determined set of sampled pagesor word lines at different read voltages across NAND blocks. In existingmemory devices, a read scan may be triggered at a regular cadence fromsynchronous events to track time-dependent stress effects such as dataretention; or, a read scan may be triggered based on block usage or hostworkload pattern from asynchronous events, such as in case of readdisturb.

The primary objective of read scans is to provide real time NAND RBERfeedback, such that the memory device determines when to calibrate NANDread voltages to minimize error handling trigger rate, or when toinitiate preemptive action to mitigate data integrity risk induced byvarious stress factors in the NAND blocks. With existing forms of readscan processes, sampling the RBER at different read voltages impactshost performance and increases command latency. Thus, the sampling usedby existing forms of read scan processes is often performed at a slowenough rate so that the host performance is not impacted.

Techniques and configurations are discussed herein to improve the systemperformance by coordinating with scheduled conditions, such as timewindow-based, frequency-based, or event-based conditions, topre-emptively trigger read scans during host IO idle time. This providesan opportunity for a memory system to reduce host IO contentions in theforeground based on absolute triggers of the scheduled conditions, andthus improve performance and reduce latency for host operations underbenchmark workloads and typical user workloads.

The techniques discussed herein include the use of window-based criteriain lieu of absolute criteria to preemptively trigger read scans in idleperiods of memory device activity. In particular, memory devices used inmobile devices and consumer SSDs typically experience a bursty workloadcharacterized by frequent host idle times that allow the memory systemfirmware to perform background tasks such as read scans. The read scanmanagement techniques discussed herein allow memory device firmware toeffectively execute read scans during host idle events and reduce theimpact on host performance.

In the examples discussed herein, the window-based criteria may beapplied to time triggers, frequency domain triggers, or event basedtriggers, to allow deployment in response to synchronous andasynchronous events of the memory device. When the window-based triggercriteria is met, the memory device initiates read scans on the sampledNAND blocks as a background task during the next host idle state. Theread scan then may be provided with an opportunity to complete uponoccurrence of the idle state, in a preemptive fashion, before ascheduled condition that launches the read scan would otherwise occur.

This preemptive read scan provides an opportunity for the memory deviceto perform data integrity specific maintenance tasks in the backgroundduring host idle time, thus alleviating the host IO performance impactof running in the foreground. As a result, collisions or contentionsbetween host IO accesses and read scans in the foreground may beminimized. Also as a result, the memory device may utilize theidentified host idle time to conduct read scans and other backgroundtasks in an optimized or prioritized manner, to provide improved host IOperformance and latency for typical usage of mobile devices and consumerSSDs. This approach is complimentary to the various low powerrequirements found in some mobile devices and consumer SSDs, which oftenimpose aggressive power management policies on memory devices that tendto limit the availability of background idle time.

The techniques discussed herein also may be used to effectively hidelatencies caused by read scans in the background host idle time. Thetechniques also help to minimize read scan related collisions with hostIO in the foreground, thus improving performance and reducing latencyoverheads for memory device read/write operations. Additionally, thetechniques provide better performance and latency consistency forbenchmark workloads, as well as optimization for typical user workloadsthat are characterized with frequent host idle times. These and othertechnical advantages will be apparent from the following exampleconfigurations and implementations.

FIG. 5 provides a block diagram of an example system 500 including amemory device 510 (e.g., a SSD storage device, a SD/MMC card, etc.)having a memory controller 540 with control modules 542 adapted forimplementing the read scan optimization techniques discussed herein. Inan example, the functionality of the control modules 542 may beimplemented in respective modules in a firmware of the memory controller540. However, it will be understood that various forms of software,firmware, and hardware may be utilized to by the controller 540 toimplement the control modules 542 and the other techniques discussedherein.

As shown, the memory device 510 includes a NAND memory array 530 withmultiple dies (dies 1-N), with each die including one or more blocks(blocks 1-N). Each of the one or more blocks may include further dividedportions, such as one or more word lines (not shown) per block; and eachof the one or more word lines may be further comprised of one or morepages (not shown) per word line, depending on the number of data statesthat the memory cells of that word line are configured to store.

In an example, the blocks of memory cells of the memory array 530include groups of at least one of: single-level cell (SLC), multi-layercell (MLC), triple-layer cell (TLC), or quad-layer cell (QLC) NANDmemory cells. Also, in an example, the memory array 530 is arranged intoa stack of three-dimensional (3D) NAND dies, such that the respectivegroup of multiple blocks hosting a respective block is a member of agroup of blocks provided by a respective die in the stack of 3D NANDdies. These configurations and further detailed components of the memoryarray 530 are not illustrated in FIG. 5 for simplicity. However, thememory array 530 may incorporate these or any of the features describedabove with reference to features of 3D NAND architecture devices orother forms of NAND storage devices.

The memory device 510 is shown as being operably coupled to a host 520via a controller 540. The controller 540 is adapted to receive andprocess host IO commands 525, such as read operations, write operations,erase operations, and the like, to read, write, erase, and manage datastored within the memory array 530. A variety of other components forthe memory device 510 (such as a memory manager, and other circuitry oroperational components) and the controller 540 are also not depicted forsimplicity.

The controller 540 is depicted as including a memory 544 (e.g., volatilememory), processing circuitry 546 (e.g., a microprocessor), and astorage media 548 (e.g., non-volatile memory), used for executinginstructions (e.g., instructions hosted by the storage media 548, loadedinto memory 544, and executed by the processing circuitry 546) toimplement the control modules 542 for management and use of the memoryarray 530. The functionality provided by the control modules 542 mayinclude, but is not limited to: IO operation monitoring 550 (e.g., tomonitor read and write IO operations, originating from host commands);host operation processing 555 (e.g., to interpret and process the hostIO commands 525, and to issue further commands to the memory array 530to perform respective read, write, erase, or other host-initiatedoperations); read scan control 560 (e.g., to control the timing,criteria, conditions, and parameters of respective read scan operations585 on the memory array 530); read voltage control 570 (e.g., toestablish, set, and utilize a read voltage level to read a particularportion of the memory array 530); read level calibration 580 (e.g., tooperate a calibration procedure to identify a new read voltage level ofa particular portion or portions of the memory array 530); and errordetection processing 590 (e.g., to identify and correct errors from dataobtained in read operations, to identify one or more RBER(s) for aparticular read operation or set of operations, etc.).

In an example, the host operation processing 555 is used to interpretand process the host IO commands 525 (e.g., read and write commands) andinitiate accompanying commands in the controller 540 and the memoryarray 530 to accomplish the host IO commands 525. Further, in responseto the host IO commands 525, and the IO operation monitoring 550, anderror detection processing 590, the host operation processing 555 maycoordinate timing, conditions, and parameters of the read scan control560.

In an example, the IO operation monitoring 550 operates to track readsand writes to the memory array initiated by host IO commands. The IOoperation monitoring 550 also operates to track accompanying IOoperations and states, such as a host IO active or inactive state (e.g.,where an active state corresponds to the state of the controller 540 andmemory array 530 actively performing read or write IO operationsinitiated from the host 520, and where an inactive state corresponds toan absence of performing such IO operations initiated from the host520). The IO operation monitoring 550 may also monitor aspects ofvoltage level and read error rates occurring with the IO operationsinitiated from the host 520, in connection with determining parametersfor read scan control 560 as discussed herein.

In an example, the read scan control 560 operates to identify parametersin the memory array 530 and controller 540 for scheduling and conductinga read scan operation 585, such as based on the IO conditions (e.g.,indicated by the IO operation monitoring 550) or error conditions (e.g.,indicated by the error detection processing 590). The read scan control560 further defines one or more scheduled conditions and one or moretrigger windows for scheduling the read scan operation 585 andpreemptively launching the read scan operation 585 during the triggerwindow(s). The read scan control 560 further operates to initiate andperform the read scan operation 585 based on these or other parameters,through synchronous or asynchronous event processing as illustrated anddiscussed below with reference to FIGS. 6A and 6.

In an example, the read voltage control 570 is used to establish,change, and provide a voltage value used to read a particular area ofmemory (such as a respective block in the memory array 530). Forexample, the read voltage control 570 may implement various positive ornegative offsets in order to read respective memory cells and memorylocations (e.g., pages, blocks, dies) including the respective memorycells.

In an example, the read level calibration 580 is used to establish(e.g., change, update, reset, etc.) the value of the read voltageimplemented by the read voltage control 570. The read level calibration580 may be implemented through multiple sampling commands performed onthe memory array 530, such as sampling commands issued at varyingvoltages to multiple areas of the memory array, which attempt todetermine a read voltage that is optimized to the Vt of those areas. Theread level calibration 580 may operate in connection with the featuresof the host operation processing 555, the read scan control 560, or theerror detection processing 590. For instance, the host operationprocessing 555 may identify memory locations for sampling based on IOread operations to those locations; also for instance, the read scancontrol 560 may trigger performance of the read level calibration 580 inresponse to an increasing RBER trend of various read scans; also forinstance, the error detection processing 590 may trigger the read levelcalibration 580 in response to particular conditions of errors or anerror rate of read data (e.g., in data read from a block) as exceeding aparticular threshold.

In an example, the error detection processing 590 may detect arecoverable error condition (e.g., a RBER value or an RBER trend), anunrecoverable error condition, or other measurements or error conditionsfor a memory cell, a group of cells, or larger areas of the memory array(e.g., averages or samples from a block, group of blocks, die, group ofdies, etc.). Also in an example, the error detection processing 590 mayoperate to trigger an event or condition of a read scan via the readscan control 560, or to trigger or schedule a calibration operation withthe read level calibration 580.

As discussed herein, the read scan control 560 may involve aspects ofscheduling and coordinating a read scan operation 585 to occur at or inresponse to a scheduled condition (e.g., at a determined time, inresponse to a particular event or occurrence), identifying a triggerwindow for preemptive triggering of the read scan operation, andinitiating the read scan operation preemptively before the scheduledcondition during an idle state in the trigger window. When triggered,the read scan operation may include performing reads of sets of sampledpages or word lines of a plurality of blocks of the memory array 530;the read scan operation also may perform such reads with different readvoltages among the plurality of blocks of the memory array 530. In anexample, the read scan control 560 operates to select the plurality ofblocks at random from within the memory array 530 (e.g., with randomsampling); in another example, the read scan control 560 operates toselect specific plurality of blocks based on: frequency or recency ofaccess, age of data retention, or an error rate (e.g., RBER) of readoperations at a particular location, such as based upon locations ofread operations as tracked by the IO operation monitoring 550.

Additionally, the sampling and read operations that are performed in aread scan by the read scan control 560 may allow configuration, such asfrom a specification (e.g., a determined setting or calculation) of: asize of data (e.g., data corresponding to a page, block, group ofblocks, die) that is sampled; a number of pages in total that aresampled; a number of pages within a block that are sampled; whethercertain cells, pages, blocks, dies, or certain types of such cells,pages, blocks, dies are or are not sampled; and the like. Likewise, thesampling that is performed in a read scan by the read scan control 560may be adjusted according to certain benchmarks, user patterns, readaccess patterns, or other characteristics to match the real-world actualor expected usage of the storage device.

In addition to the techniques discussed herein, other aspects ofmaintenance operations may be implemented by the control operations 542in the controller 540. Such operations may include garbage collection orreclamation, wear leveling, block management, and other forms ofbackground activities performed upon the memory array 530. Suchbackground activities may be triggered during an idle state detected bythe IO operation monitoring 550, such as immediately following orconcurrently with a read scan operation.

FIG. 6A illustrates a timeline scenario 600A of an example read scantrigger criteria implementing time-based condition triggers forpreemptive idle time read scan operations in a memory device.Specifically, the timeline scenario 600A illustrates an event timeline620A occurring from t0 to t as contrasted with an IO operation timeline610 illustrating read and write operations occurring from host IO.

As shown, event timeline 620 includes various scheduled triggers for aread scan operation based on synchronous activity, including scheduledcondition X (to occur at time X) and scheduled condition Y (to occur attime Y). For instance, a read scan operation may be scheduled at aregular interval to occur every Y-X minutes (e.g., every n seconds,minutes, hours, days, etc.). In the depiction of the timeline scenario600A, the event timeline 620A may operate to ensure that a respectiveread scan operation is commenced at no later than scheduled time X andscheduled time Y, meaning that the respective read scan operation canbegin earlier than time X and time Y within a trigger window.

The IO operation timeline 610, in contrast, includes bursts of host IOactivity that is unlikely to occur according to a defined schedule. Asshown, the IO operation timeline 610 includes a number of IO operations(designated by respective “X” characters), in addition to periods oftime in which the IO operations are not being conducted (designated bywhite space). The periods of time in which the IO operations are notbeing conducted include periods 640A, 640B, 640C, indicating an idlestate for host IO operations. It will be understood that the periods640A, 640B, 640C and the timelines 610, 620A are provided with asimplified representation for illustrative purposes, as other memorydevice operations are not illustrated in the timeline scenario 600A forpurposes of simplicity.

The event timeline 620A further depicts respective preemptive triggerwindows 630A, 630B, which are used to designate a preemptive period oftime to perform read scan operations. Specifically, the trigger window630A starts at time X-t and continues until time X; the trigger window630B starts at time Y-t and continues until time Y. The memory devicemay monitor for a respective idle state of host IO operations, with theidle state used to initiate and conduct read scan operations within theidle states occurring within the trigger windows 630A, 630B.

The timeline scenario 600A provides an implementation of preemptivesynchronized read scans that are pre-scheduled based on a time intervalor other times. For example, when synchronized read scans are utilized,an absolute trigger limit for a read scan may be set to every Ntime-units (e.g., seconds, minutes, hours, or days), and thewindow-based criterion for the lower trigger limit is N-t time units,where t can be a configurable parameter. In this scenario, a preemptiveread scan may be triggered in the background every N-t time-units, ifthe host IO is idle; else, the preemptive read scan is triggered at Ntime-units in the foreground. In contrast, with an absolutetrigger-based approach, the read scan is triggered only at X (even whenthe host IO is active).

As a first example, within trigger window 630A (starting at time X-t),the host IO activity continues until the first idle period 640A. Inresponse to the host IO becoming idle and the memory device entering acorresponding idle state, a preemptive read scan operation may commence.Specifically, the read scan operation, which was otherwise scheduled tooccur at time X (the originally scheduled condition), will now beginduring the first idle period 640A. In the event that the preemptive readscan operation cannot complete in the background within the first idleperiod 640A because host IO activity occurs, the preemptive read scanoperation may be delayed or may continue. In an example, the preemptiveread scan operation may pause until resuming at time X. In anotherexample, the preemptive read scan operation may continue at a lowerpriority than host IO operations when the host IO activity resumes, butthen become prioritized at time X to ensure that the read scancompletes.

As a second example, within trigger window 630B (starting at time Y-t),the host IO activity continues until the second idle period 640B. Inresponse to the host IO becoming idle and the memory device entering acorresponding idle state, another preemptive read scan operation maycommence. Specifically, this read scan operation, which was otherwisescheduled to occur at time Y, will now begin during the second idleperiod 640B. Similar to the example above, the event that the preemptiveread scan operation cannot complete within the second idle period 640B(e.g., because host IO activity occurs), the preemptive read scanoperation may be delayed or may continue. In a further example, wheninterrupted by host IO activity, the preemptive read scan operation maybe delayed until another host idle time occurs (e.g., at the third idleperiod 640C); in another example, the preemptive read scan operation maybe delayed no longer than time Y.

FIG. 6 illustrates a timeline scenario 600B of an example read scantrigger criteria implementing event-based condition triggers forpreemptive idle time read scan operations in a memory device. In asimilar fashion to timeline scenario 600A, the timeline scenario 600Billustrates an event timeline 620B occurring from t0 to t as contrastedwith an IO operation timeline 610 illustrating read and write operationsoccurring from host IO. However, the event timeline 620B includesscheduled conditions that result from event or occurrence triggers(e.g., asynchronous activity) rather than from predetermined times.

As shown, event timeline 620B includes various scheduled triggers for aread scan operation based on asynchronous activity, including scheduledcondition X (e.g., to occur as a result of a particular event oroccurrence) and scheduled condition Y (to occur as a result of aparticular event or occurrence). For instance, a read scan operation maybe scheduled to occur when a frequency of errors (e.g., error handlingtrigger events in a block) exceeds a certain rate or amount, when anevent count exceeds a determined threshold, or when a particularattribute (e.g., of the memory array, the memory controller, or one ormore modules in a firmware of the memory controller) is detected. In theoperation of the timeline scenario 600B, the event timeline 620B mayoperate to ensure that a respective read scan operation is commenced atno later than scheduled condition X and scheduled condition Y, meaning,the read scan operation can be commenced earlier than scheduled event Xand scheduled event Y within a trigger window.

Again in contrast, the IO operation timeline 610, includes bursts ofhost IO activity that is unlikely to occur according to a definedschedule. As shown, the IO operation timeline 610 includes a number ofIO operations, and periods of time in which the IO operations are notbeing conducted (periods 640A, 640B, 640C). The event timeline 620Bfurther depicts the asynchronous nature of the events, and the varyingsizes of the trigger windows 650A, 650B, which are used to designate apreemptive period of time to perform read scan operations. Specifically,the trigger window 650A starts at the occurrence of event X′ andcontinues to the occurrence of event X; the trigger window 650B startsat the occurrence of event Y′ and continues to the occurrence of eventY. Notably, the trigger window 650A is smaller than the trigger window650B, due to the asynchronous nature of the events occurring in thememory device and the host IO. However, the memory device may continueto monitor for a respective idle state that is used to perform read scanoperations within the trigger windows 650A, 650B.

The timeline scenario 600B provides an implementation of preemptiveasynchronous read scans used to address read disturb, such as where atrigger event is based on a block read count threshold. For example, awindow-based read count threshold criterion can be set for the triggerwindow, such that once a lower limit (event X′) for the threshold ismet, the storage device can schedule the read scan to pre-emptivelyoccur when the host IO encounters an idle event (before event X).Additionally, in a further example, the window trigger criterion can bemodulated in response to certain event triggers such as an extent oferror handling (e.g., a number of steps in an error handling flow).Based on the number of steps in the error handling flow required torecover errors or the error handling trigger rate, the system canmodulate time-based or block usage-based read scan criteria to adapt tothe changing media characteristics.

As a first example, within trigger window 650A (starting at theoccurrence of event X′), the host IO activity continues until the firstidle period 640A. In response to the host IO becoming idle and thememory device entering a corresponding idle state, the preemptive readscan operation may commence. Specifically, the read scan operation,which was otherwise scheduled to occur at (or after) the occurrence ofevent X, will now begin during the first idle period 640A. In the eventthat the read scan operation cannot complete in the background withinthe first idle period 640A because host IO activity occurs, the readscan operation may be delayed or may continue (e.g., as discussed abovewith reference to timeline scenario 600A).

As a second example, within trigger window 650B (starting at theoccurrence of event Y′), the host IO activity continues until the secondidle period 640B. In response to the host IO becoming idle and thememory device entering a corresponding idle state, another preemptiveread scan operation may commence. Specifically, this read scanoperation, which was otherwise scheduled to occur at or after theoccurrence of event Y, will now begin during the second idle period640B. Notably, the trigger window 650B is indicated as being a differentsize than trigger window 650A, due to the asynchronous nature of theevents. Thus, as shown, an additional host idle period (third idleperiod 640C) may occur within the trigger window 650B. The third idleperiod 640C may be used to launch additional background operations, tocomplete read scan operations, or to perform additional scheduled andcoordinated idle time tasks.

In contrast to the techniques illustrated in FIGS. 6A and 6B,conventional approaches typically utilize a single, absolute criterionfor time, frequency, or other metrics to trigger a read scan operation.Thus, conventional approaches are not optimized to perform read scansduring the background host idle time and may result in higher collisionrate with host IO. In particular, read scan triggers often occur in theforeground, which causes a storage device to multiplex read scanoperations along with the host IO traffic, thus impacting performance ofboth types of operations. Collisions also result in an increased latencyto service the host IO commands. These concerns are addressed with theapproaches discussed herein, which provide flexibility and optimizationto preemptively schedule and launch read scans, and as applicable, delayand coordinate such read scans.

FIG. 7 illustrates a flowchart 700 of an example set of operationsadapted for performing preemptive idle time read scan operations in amemory device. In an example, the operations of the flowchart 700 may beimplemented by a controller (e.g., controller 115, 540) of a storagedevice, through a combination of executed operations in software,firmware, or configured hardware. However, some or all aspects of thefollowing techniques may be implemented by other components (e.g., asinitiated by a host) in connection with other commands, controls, andforms of orchestration.

In an example, the operations of the flowchart 700 may be implemented ina memory device, the memory device comprising a NAND memory array havinggroups of multiple blocks of memory cells, and a memory controlleroperably coupled to the memory array, with the memory controller adapted(e.g., configured, arranged, programmed) to perform the respectiveoperations. In another example, the operations of the flowchart 700 maybe implemented in a method performed by or on a memory controller (orwith modules of the memory controller) that controls a NAND memoryarray, the memory array having groups of multiple blocks of memorycells. In an example, the operations of the flowchart 700 may beimplemented in a device readable storage medium, which providesinstructions to perform the respective operations when executed (e.g.,when executed by a controller of a memory device).

The flowchart 700 is shown as commencing with the identification ofconditions in a memory device for scheduling a read scan operation(operation 710). These conditions may include the establishment of ascheduled time condition for a read scan (e.g., such that a read scanmust be performed or attempted every n intervals of time), theestablishment of a scheduled frequency or evaluative condition (e.g.,such that a read scan must be performed in response to n readsoccurring, or in response to an error rate exceeding m), or theestablishment of an event-based condition (e.g., such that a read scanmust be performed in response to certain detected conditions such asevents or attributes within the memory device).

The definition of the read scan scheduling is accompanied by thedefinition of a trigger window for a preemptive read scan operation(operation 720). For example, the definition of a trigger window may bebased on a variation of the scheduled event, conditions in the memorydevice, or a time-based window, which precedes the scheduled condition.In connection with the definition of the trigger window, a read scanoperation is scheduled to occur upon occurrence of the scheduledcondition (operation 730), which is coordinated with the end of thedefined trigger window. The scheduled condition may be time, frequency,or event based, as discussed in the asynchronous and synchronousexamples herein.

As discussed herein, the read scan operation may be defined to sampledata at multiple locations of the memory array by performing reads atthe multiple locations. In further examples, the read scan operation mayinclude tracking of error rates, error rate trends, and other conditionsbased on the results of the read scans among the multiple locations. Forinstance, the read scan operation may include performing reads of setsof sampled pages or word lines of a plurality of blocks of the memoryarray, such that the reads are performed with different read voltagesamong the plurality of blocks. In still further examples, the pluralityof blocks are selected at random from within the NAND memory array.

The flowchart 700 continues with the monitoring of the operational stateof host IO operations with the memory device (operation 740). In anexample, this may include monitoring the operational state of the memorydevice to identify an active state corresponding to the performance ofoperations initiated from a host, or an idle state corresponding to anabsence of operations initiated from the host. Based on this monitoring,an idle state of the host IO operations may be identified and detectedwithin the defined trigger window, prior to the scheduled condition(operation 750).

In response to the operational state of the memory device entering theidle state during the trigger window, the read scan operation may bepreemptively initiated (operation 760). Thus, during the idle state ofhost IO operations within the trigger window, the read scan operationmay preemptively occur before the scheduled condition.

The flowchart 700 continues with an optional condition to pause a readscan operation that is not complete (operation 770). The pausing of aread scan operation may occur within a trigger window, prior to thescheduled condition, such as when the idle state transitions into anactive state of host IO operations. With this optional condition, theflowchart 700 resumes to await an identification of the idle state ofhost IO operations (operation 750), and initiate the read scan operationupon the occurrence of the idle state within the trigger window(operation 760).

The flowchart 700 concludes with the completion of the read scanoperation, and the performance of any additional operation(s) such asread voltage calibration based on the read scans (operation 780). If theread scan operations have not completed during the idle state(s) by thescheduled event (e.g., as paused by operation 770), the read scanoperations may be completed upon occurrence of the scheduled condition.

Finally, in an optional example, where the memory device remains in anidle state, additional maintenance tasks such as garbage collection orreclamation, wear leveling, block retirement, and the like may beinitiated on the memory device (operation 790). Specifically,pre-emptive read scans may be one of several background tasks performedby the memory device during the host idle state. In a further example, abackground module of the memory device governs the priority andscheduling aspects of the maintenance tasks. For instance, read scansmay be pre-emptively triggered during host idle time based on thetrigger window, but will not necessarily take a higher priority overother background tasks managed by the background module. Accordingly,coordination and scheduling may be performed by the background module toallow the maintenance tasks to be conducted before, after, concurrently,or in compliment with the read scan operations.

In response to the operational state of the memory array not enteringthe idle state during the trigger window, the read scan operation may beinitiated to occur no later than the scheduled event. For instance,consider a scenario where a second read scan operation is scheduled tobe conducted upon occurrence of a second scheduled condition. The secondread scan may be initiated in response to the operational state of thememory not entering the idle state before the second scheduledcondition, such that the second read scan operation is initiated tooccur in response to the second scheduled condition (e.g., withoutpreemptive scheduling). Thus, if preemptive scheduling is unsuccessfulor cannot be utilized as a background operation within a trigger window,the read scan operation may still be initiated within the foreground.

It will be understood that these and the other example implementationsdiscussed above are provided as examples, and may be accompanied byother time and operational optimizations to maximize efficiency and useof idle time. Further, the techniques for sampling and triggering thevoltage calibration may modified to be integrated with use of existingread scan triggers, conditions, and operations, providing a minimal oreven zero impact as compared with conventional read scan triggeringtechniques.

FIG. 8 illustrates a block diagram of an example machine 800 upon whichany one or more of the techniques (e.g., methodologies) discussed hereinmay perform. In alternative embodiments, the machine 800 may operate asa standalone device or may be connected (e.g., networked) to othermachines. In a networked deployment, the machine 800 may operate in thecapacity of a server machine, a client machine, or both in server-clientnetwork environments. In an example, the machine 800 may act as a peermachine in peer-to-peer (P2P) (or other distributed) networkenvironment. The machine 800 may be a personal computer (PC), a tabletPC, a set-top box (STB), a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobiletelephone, a web appliance, an IoT device, automotive system, or anymachine capable of executing instructions (sequential or otherwise) thatspecify actions to be taken by that machine. Further, while only asingle machine is illustrated, the term “machine” shall also be taken toinclude any collection of machines that individually or jointly executea set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more ofthe methodologies discussed herein, such as cloud computing, software asa service (SaaS), other computer cluster configurations.

Examples, as described herein, may include, or may operate by, logic,components, devices, packages, or mechanisms. Circuitry is a collection(e.g., set) of circuits implemented in tangible entities that includehardware (e.g., simple circuits, gates, logic, etc.). Circuitrymembership may be flexible over time and underlying hardwarevariability. Circuitries include members that may, alone or incombination, perform specific tasks when operating. In an example,hardware of the circuitry may be immutably designed to carry out aspecific operation (e.g., hardwired). In an example, the hardware of thecircuitry may include variably connected physical components (e.g.,execution units, transistors, simple circuits, etc.) including acomputer readable medium physically modified (e.g., magnetically,electrically, moveable placement of invariant massed particles, etc.) toencode instructions of the specific operation. In connecting thephysical components, the underlying electrical properties of a hardwareconstituent are changed, for example, from an insulator to a conductoror vice versa. The instructions enable participating hardware (e.g., theexecution units or a loading mechanism) to create members of thecircuitry in hardware via the variable connections to carry out portionsof the specific tasks when in operation. Accordingly, the computerreadable medium is communicatively coupled to the other components ofthe circuitry when the device is operating. In an example, any of thephysical components may be used in more than one member of more than onecircuitry. For example, under operation, execution units may be used ina first circuit of a first circuitry at one point in time and reused bya second circuit in the first circuitry, or by a third circuit in asecond circuitry at a different time.

The machine (e.g., computer system) 800 (e.g., the host device 105, thememory device 110, etc.) may include a hardware processor 802 (e.g., acentral processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), ahardware processor core, or any combination thereof, such as the memorycontroller 115, etc.), a main memory 804 and a static memory 806, someor all of which may communicate with each other via an interlink (e.g.,bus) 808. The machine 800 may further include a display unit 810, analphanumeric input device 812 (e.g., a keyboard), and a user interface(UI) navigation device 814 (e.g., a mouse). In an example, the displayunit 810, input device 812 and UI navigation device 814 may be a touchscreen display. The machine 800 may additionally include a storagedevice (e.g., drive unit) 816, a signal generation device 818 (e.g., aspeaker), a network interface device 820, and one or more sensors 816,such as a global positioning system (GPS) sensor, compass,accelerometer, or other sensor. The machine 800 may include an outputcontroller 828, such as a serial (e.g., universal serial bus (USB),parallel, or other wired or wireless (e.g., infrared (IR), near fieldcommunication (NFC), etc.) connection to communicate or control one ormore peripheral devices (e.g., a printer, card reader, etc.).

The storage device 816 may include a machine readable medium 822 onwhich is stored one or more sets of data structures or instructions 824(e.g., software) embodying or utilized by any one or more of thetechniques or functions described herein. The instructions 824 may alsoreside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 804,within static memory 806, or within the hardware processor 802 duringexecution thereof by the machine 800. In an example, one or anycombination of the hardware processor 802, the main memory 804, thestatic memory 806, or the storage device 816 may constitute the machinereadable medium 822.

While the machine readable medium 822 is illustrated as a single medium,the term “machine readable medium” may include a single medium ormultiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, orassociated caches and servers) configured to store the one or moreinstructions 824.

The term “machine readable medium” may include any medium that iscapable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution bythe machine 800 and that cause the machine 800 to perform any one ormore of the techniques of the present disclosure, or that is capable ofstoring, encoding or carrying data structures used by or associated withsuch instructions. Non-limiting machine readable medium examples mayinclude solid-state memories, and optical and magnetic media. In anexample, a massed machine readable medium comprises a machine-readablemedium with a plurality of particles having invariant (e.g., rest) mass.Accordingly, massed machine-readable media are not transitorypropagating signals. Specific examples of massed machine readable mediamay include: non-volatile memory, such as semiconductor memory devices(e.g., Electrically Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM), ElectricallyErasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM)) and flash memorydevices; magnetic disks, such as internal hard disks and removabledisks; magneto-optical disks; and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks.

The instructions 824 (e.g., software, programs, an operating system(OS), etc.) or other data are stored on the storage device 821, can beaccessed by the memory 804 for use by the processor 802. The memory 804(e.g., DRAM) is typically fast, but volatile, and thus a different typeof storage than the storage device 821 (e.g., an SSD), which is suitablefor long-term storage, including while in an “off” condition. Theinstructions 824 or data in use by a user or the machine 800 aretypically loaded in the memory 804 for use by the processor 802. Whenthe memory 804 is full, virtual space from the storage device 821 can beallocated to supplement the memory 804; however, because the storage 821device is typically slower than the memory 804, and write speeds aretypically at least twice as slow as read speeds, use of virtual memorycan greatly reduce user experience due to storage device latency (incontrast to the memory 804, e.g., DRAM). Further, use of the storagedevice 821 for virtual memory can greatly reduce the usable lifespan ofthe storage device 821.

In contrast to virtual memory, virtual memory compression (e.g., theLinux® kernel feature “ZRAM”) uses part of the memory as compressedblock storage to avoid paging to the storage device 821. Paging takesplace in the compressed block until it is necessary to write such datato the storage device 821. Virtual memory compression increases theusable size of memory 804, while reducing wear on the storage device821.

Storage devices optimized for mobile electronic devices, or mobilestorage, traditionally include MMC solid-state storage devices (e.g.,micro Secure Digital (microSD™) cards, etc.). MMC devices include anumber of parallel interfaces (e.g., an 8-bit parallel interface) with ahost device, and are often removable and separate components from thehost device. In contrast, eMMC™ devices are attached to a circuit boardand considered a component of the host device, with read speeds thatrival serial ATA™ (Serial AT (Advanced Technology) Attachment, or SATA)based SSD devices. However, demand for mobile device performancecontinues to increase, such as to fully enable virtual oraugmented-reality devices, utilize increasing networks speeds, etc. Inresponse to this demand, storage devices have shifted from parallel toserial communication interfaces. Universal Flash Storage (UFS) devices,including controllers and firmware, communicate with a host device usinga low-voltage differential signaling (LVDS) serial interface withdedicated read/write paths, further advancing greater read/write speeds.

The instructions 824 may further be transmitted or received over acommunications network 826 using a transmission medium via the networkinterface device 820 utilizing any one of a number of transfer protocols(e.g., frame relay, internet protocol (IP), transmission controlprotocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP), hypertext transferprotocol (HTTP), etc.). Example communication networks may include alocal area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a packet datanetwork (e.g., the Internet), mobile telephone networks (e.g., cellularnetworks), Plain Old Telephone (POTS) networks, and wireless datanetworks (e.g., Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)802.11 family of standards known as Wi-Fi®, IEEE 802.16 family ofstandards known as WiMax®), IEEE 802.15.4 family of standards,peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, among others. In an example, the networkinterface device 820 may include one or more physical jacks (e.g.,Ethernet, coaxial, or phone jacks) or one or more antennas to connect tothe communications network 826. In an example, the network interfacedevice 820 may include a plurality of antennas to wirelessly communicateusing at least one of single-input multiple-output (SIMO),multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), or multiple-input single-output(MISO) techniques. The term “transmission medium” shall be taken toinclude any intangible medium that is capable of storing, encoding orcarrying instructions for execution by the machine 800, and includesdigital or analog communications signals or other intangible medium tofacilitate communication of such software.

The above detailed description includes references to the accompanyingdrawings, which form a part of the detailed description. The drawingsshow, by way of illustration, specific embodiments in which theinvention can be practiced. These embodiments are also referred toherein as “examples”. Such examples can include elements in addition tothose shown or described. However, the present inventors alsocontemplate examples in which only those elements shown or described areprovided. Moreover, the present inventors also contemplate examplesusing any combination or permutation of those elements shown ordescribed (or one or more aspects thereof), either with respect to aparticular example (or one or more aspects thereof), or with respect toother examples (or one or more aspects thereof) shown or describedherein.

[1] In this document, the terms “a” or “an” are used, as is common inpatent documents, to include one or more than one, independent of anyother instances or usages of “at least one” or “one or more.” In thisdocument, the term “or” is used to refer to a nonexclusive or, such that“A or B” may include “A but not B,” “B but not A,” and “A and B,” unlessotherwise indicated. In the appended claims, the terms “including” and“in which” are used as the plain-English equivalents of the respectiveterms “comprising” and “wherein”. Also, in the following claims, theterms “including” and “comprising” are open-ended, that is, a system,device, article, or process that includes elements in addition to thoselisted after such a term in a claim are still deemed to fall within thescope of that claim. Moreover, in the following claims, the terms“first,” “second,” and “third,” etc. are used merely as labels, and arenot intended to impose numerical requirements on their objects.

In various examples, the components, controllers, processors, units,engines, or tables described herein can include, among other things,physical circuitry or firmware stored on a physical device. As usedherein, “processor” means any type of computational circuit such as, butnot limited to, a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a graphicsprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), or any other type ofprocessor or processing circuit, including a group of processors ormulti-core devices.

The term “horizontal” as used in this document is defined as a planeparallel to the conventional plane or surface of a substrate, such asthat underlying a wafer or die, regardless of the actual orientation ofthe substrate at any point in time. The term “vertical” refers to adirection perpendicular to the horizontal as defined above.Prepositions, such as “on,” “over,” and “under” are defined with respectto the conventional plane or surface being on the top or exposed surfaceof the substrate, regardless of the orientation of the substrate; andwhile “on” is intended to suggest a direct contact of one structurerelative to another structure which it lies “on” (in the absence of anexpress indication to the contrary); the terms “over” and “under” areexpressly intended to identify a relative placement of structures (orlayers, features, etc.), which expressly includes—but is not limitedto-direct contact between the identified structures unless specificallyidentified as such. Similarly, the terms “over” and “under” are notlimited to horizontal orientations, as a structure may be “over” areferenced structure if it is, at some point in time, an outermostportion of the construction under discussion, even if such structureextends vertically relative to the referenced structure, rather than ina horizontal orientation.

The terms “wafer” and “substrate” are used herein to refer generally toany structure on which integrated circuits are formed, and also to suchstructures during various stages of integrated circuit fabrication. Thefollowing detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in alimiting sense, and the scope of the various embodiments is defined onlyby the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents towhich such claims are entitled.

Various embodiments according to the present disclosure and describedherein include memory utilizing a vertical structure of memory cells(e.g., NAND strings of memory cells). As used herein, directionaladjectives will be taken relative a surface of a substrate upon whichthe memory cells are formed (i.e., a vertical structure will be taken asextending away from the substrate surface, a bottom end of the verticalstructure will be taken as the end nearest the substrate surface and atop end of the vertical structure will be taken as the end farthest fromthe substrate surface).

As used herein, directional adjectives, such as horizontal, vertical,normal, parallel, perpendicular, etc., can refer to relativeorientations, and are not intended to require strict adherence tospecific geometric properties, unless otherwise noted. For example, asused herein, a vertical structure need not be strictly perpendicular toa surface of a substrate, but may instead be generally perpendicular tothe surface of the substrate, and may form an acute angle with thesurface of the substrate (e.g., between 60 and 120 degrees, etc.).

In some embodiments described herein, different doping configurationsmay be applied to a source-side select gate (SGS), a control gate (CG),and a drain-side select gate (SGD), each of which, in this example, maybe formed of or at least include polysilicon, with the result such thatthese tiers (e.g., polysilicon, etc.) may have different etch rates whenexposed to an etching solution. For example, in a process of forming amonolithic pillar in a 3D semiconductor device, the SGS and the CG mayform recesses, while the SGD may remain less recessed or even notrecessed. These doping configurations may thus enable selective etchinginto the distinct tiers (e.g., SGS, CG, and SGD) in the 3D semiconductordevice by using an etching solution (e.g., tetramethylammonium hydroxide(TMCH)).

Operating a memory cell, as used herein, includes reading from, writingto, or erasing the memory cell. The operation of placing a memory cellin an intended state is referred to herein as “programming,” and caninclude both writing to or erasing from the memory cell (e.g., thememory cell may be programmed to an erased state).

According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, a memorycontroller (e.g., a processor, controller, firmware, etc.) locatedinternal or external to a memory device, is capable of determining(e.g., selecting, setting, adjusting, computing, changing, clearing,communicating, adapting, deriving, defining, utilizing, modifying,applying, etc.) a quantity of wear cycles, or a wear state (e.g.,recording wear cycles, counting operations of the memory device as theyoccur, tracking the operations of the memory device it initiates,evaluating the memory device characteristics corresponding to a wearstate, etc.)

According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, a memoryaccess device may be configured to provide wear cycle information to thememory device with each memory operation. The memory device controlcircuitry (e.g., control logic) may be programmed to compensate formemory device performance changes corresponding to the wear cycleinformation. The memory device may receive the wear cycle informationand determine one or more operating parameters (e.g., a value,characteristic) in response to the wear cycle information.

It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being “on,”“connected to” or “coupled with” another element, it can be directly on,connected, or coupled with the other element or intervening elements maybe present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being“directly on,” “directly connected to” or “directly coupled with”another element, there are no intervening elements or layers present. Iftwo elements are shown in the drawings with a line connecting them, thetwo elements can be either be coupled, or directly coupled, unlessotherwise indicated.

Method examples described herein can be machine or computer-implementedat least in part. Some examples can include a computer-readable mediumor machine-readable medium encoded with instructions operable toconfigure an electronic device to perform methods as described in theabove examples. An implementation of such methods can include code, suchas microcode, assembly language code, a higher-level language code, orthe like. Such code can include computer readable instructions forperforming various methods. The code may form portions of computerprogram products. Further, the code can be tangibly stored on one ormore volatile or non-volatile tangible computer-readable media, such asduring execution or at other times. Examples of these tangiblecomputer-readable media can include, but are not limited to, hard disks,removable magnetic disks, removable optical disks (e.g., compact discsand digital video disks), magnetic cassettes, memory cards or sticks,random access memories (RAMs), read only memories (ROMs), solid statedrives (SSDs), Universal Flash Storage (UFS) device, embedded MMC (eMMC)device, and the like.

Additional examples of the presently described embodiments are suggestedaccording to the structures and techniques described above and specifiedin the following examples and claims.

Example 1 is a memory device, comprising: a NAND memory array; and amemory controller operably coupled to the memory array, the memorycontroller to perform operations comprising: scheduling a read scanoperation on the memory array to occur upon a scheduled condition,wherein the read scan operation is to sample data at multiple locationsof the memory array by performing reads at the multiple locations;monitoring an operational state of the memory array, the operationalstate of the memory array including an active state corresponding toperforming operations initiated from a host, and an idle statecorresponding to an absence of operations initiated from the host; andinitiating the read scan operation in response to the operational stateof the memory array entering the idle state, wherein the read scanoperation is initiated to preemptively occur before the scheduledcondition.

In Example 2, the subject matter of Example 1 includes, the read scanoperation performing reads of sets of sampled pages or word lines of aplurality of blocks of the memory array, wherein the reads are performedwith different read voltages among the plurality of blocks.

In Example 3, the subject matter of Example 2 includes, the plurality ofblocks being selected at random from within the NAND memory array.

In Example 4, the subject matter of Examples 1-3 includes, scheduling asecond read scan operation on the memory array to be conducted upon asecond scheduled condition; and initiating the second read scanoperation in response to the operational state of the memory array notentering an idle state before the second scheduled condition, whereinthe second read scan operation is initiated to occur upon the secondscheduled condition.

In Example 5, the subject matter of Examples 1-4 includes, the scheduledcondition being a time determined from a scheduled time interval,wherein the initiating of the read scan operation preemptively occursupon entering the idle state during a predetermined time period prior tothe scheduled condition.

In Example 6, the subject matter of Examples 1-5 includes, the scheduledcondition being a frequency-based condition, wherein the scheduling ofthe read scan operation is performed in response to a frequency of errorhandling trigger events in a block exceeding a determined threshold.

In Example 7, the subject matter of Examples 1-6 includes, the scheduledcondition being a predetermined event, wherein the scheduling of theread scan operation is performed in response to the predetermined eventoccurring within the memory controller, or in response to thepredetermined event being identified from an attribute of: the memoryarray, the memory controller, or one or more modules in a firmware ofthe memory controller.

In Example 8, the subject matter of Example 7 includes, thepredetermined event that occurs within the memory controllercorresponding to a block read count exceeding a determined block readcount threshold.

In Example 9, the subject matter of Examples 1-8 includes, initiating awear leveling operation in response to the operational state of thememory array entering the idle state, wherein the wear levelingoperation is initiated to occur after completion of the read scanoperation.

In Example 10, the subject matter of Examples 1-9 includes, in responseto initiating the read scan operation to preemptively occur before thescheduled condition: stopping the read scan operation in response to theoperational state of the memory array entering the active state beforethe scheduled condition; and, in response to re-entering the idle stateor in response to occurrence of the scheduled condition, resuming theread scan operation.

In Example 11, the subject matter of Examples 1-10 includes, theoperations initiated from the host including read operations or writeoperations, with the operations further comprising: prioritizing theread scan operation over operations initiated from the host, in responseto occurrence of the scheduled condition before a preemptive completionof the read scan operation.

In Example 12, the subject matter of Examples 1-11 includes, initiatingread voltage calibration of at least a portion of the memory array inresponse to data obtained from the reads conducted among the multiplelocations of the memory array with the read scan operation.

In Example 13, the subject matter of Example 12 includes, the read scanoperation performing sampling of a raw bit error rate (RBER) from themultiple locations in the memory array using multiple read voltagesamong the multiple locations, wherein the read voltage calibration isperformed in response to the RBER exceeding a predetermined threshold.

In Example 14, the subject matter of Examples 1-13 includes, the memoryarray including at least one of: single-level cell (SLC), multi-layercell (MLC), triple-layer cell (TLC), or quad-layer cell (QLC) NANDmemory cells.

In Example 15, the subject matter of Examples 1-14 includes, the memoryarray being arranged into a stack of three-dimensional (3D) NAND dies.

Example 16 is a method for performing preemptive read scans in a memorydevice, the method comprising a plurality of operations performed by amemory controller upon a NAND memory array of the memory device, withthe operations comprising: scheduling a read scan operation on thememory array to be conducted upon a scheduled condition, wherein theread scan operation is to sample data at multiple locations of thememory array by performing reads at the multiple locations, and whereinthe reads are performed with different read voltages among the multiplelocations; monitoring an operational state of the memory array, theoperational state of the memory array including an active statecorresponding to performing operations initiated from a host, and anidle state corresponding to an absence of operations initiated from thehost; and initiating the read scan operation in response to theoperational state of the memory array entering the idle state, whereinthe read scan operation is initiated to preemptively occur before thescheduled condition.

In Example 17, the subject matter of Example 16 includes, the read scanoperation performing reads of sets of sampled pages or word lines of aplurality of blocks of the memory array, wherein the reads are performedwith different read voltages among the plurality of blocks.

In Example 18, the subject matter of Example 17 includes, the pluralityof blocks being selected at random from within the NAND memory array.

In Example 19, the subject matter of Examples 16-18 includes: schedulinga second read scan operation on the memory array to be conducted upon asecond scheduled condition; and initiating the second read scanoperation in response to the operational state of the memory array notentering an idle state before the second scheduled condition, whereinthe second read scan operation is initiated to occur upon the secondscheduled condition.

In Example 20, the subject matter of Examples 16-19 includes, thescheduled condition being a time determined from a scheduled timeinterval, wherein the initiating of the read scan operation preemptivelyoccurs upon entering the idle state during a predetermined time periodprior to the scheduled condition.

In Example 21, the subject matter of Examples 16-20 includes, thescheduled condition being a frequency-based condition, wherein thescheduling of the read scan operation is performed in response to afrequency of error handling trigger events in a block exceeding adetermined threshold.

In Example 22, the subject matter of Examples 16-21 includes, thescheduled condition being a predetermined event, wherein the schedulingof the read scan operation is performed in response to the predeterminedevent occurring within the memory controller, or in response to thepredetermined event being identified from an attribute of: the memoryarray, the memory controller, or one or more modules in a firmware ofthe memory controller.

In Example 23, the subject matter of Example 22 includes, thepredetermined event occurring within the memory controller correspondingto a block read count exceeding a determined block read count threshold.

In Example 24, the subject matter of Examples 16-23 includes: initiatinga wear leveling operation in response to the operational state of thememory array entering the idle state, wherein the wear levelingoperation is initiated to occur after completion of the read scanoperation.

In Example 25, the subject matter of Examples 16-24 includes, inresponse to initiating the read scan operation to preemptively occurbefore the scheduled condition, stopping the read scan operation inresponse to the operational state of the memory array entering theactive state before the scheduled condition; and in response tore-entering the idle state or in response to occurrence of the scheduledcondition, resuming the read scan operation.

In Example 26, the subject matter of Examples 16-25 includes, theoperations initiated from the host including read operations or writeoperations, with the operations further comprising: prioritizing theread scan operation over operations initiated from the host, in responseto occurrence of the scheduled condition before a preemptive completionof the read scan operation.

In Example 27, the subject matter of Examples 16-26 includes, initiatingread voltage calibration of at least a portion of the memory array, inresponse to data obtained from the reads conducted among the multiplelocations of the memory array with the read scan operation.

In Example 28, the subject matter of Example 27 includes, the read scanoperation performing sampling of a raw bit error rate (RBER) from themultiple locations in the memory array using multiple read voltagesamong the multiple locations, wherein the read voltage calibration isperformed in response to the RBER exceeding a predetermined threshold.

In Example 29, the subject matter of Examples 16-28 includes, whereinthe memory array includes at least one of: single-level cell (SLC),multi-layer cell (MLC), triple-layer cell (TLC), or quad-layer cell(QLC) NAND memory cells.

In Example 30, the subject matter of Examples 16-29 includes, whereinthe memory array is arranged into a stack of three-dimensional (3D) NANDdies.

Example 31 is a device readable storage medium, that providesinstructions that, when executed by a controller of a memory device,performs preemptive read scans on a NAND memory array of the memorydevice, wherein the instructions cause the controller to performoperations according to any of the techniques of Examples 1-30.

Example 32 is an apparatus comprising respective means for performingany of the methods or techniques of Examples 1-30.

Example 33 is a system, apparatus, or device to perform the operationsof any of Examples 1-30.

Example 34 is a tangible machine readable medium embodying instructionsto perform or implement the operations of any of Examples 1-30.

Example 35 is a method to perform the operations of any of Examples1-30.

The above description is intended to be illustrative, and notrestrictive. For example, the above-described examples (or one or moreaspects thereof) may be used in combination with each other. Otherembodiments can be used, such as by one of ordinary skill in the artupon reviewing the above description. It is submitted with theunderstanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scopeor meaning of the claims. Also, in the above Detailed Description,various features may be grouped together to streamline the disclosure.This should not be interpreted as intending that an unclaimed disclosedfeature is essential to any claim. Rather, inventive subject matter maylie in less than all features of a particular disclosed embodiment.Thus, the following claims are hereby incorporated into the DetailedDescription, with each claim standing on its own as a separateembodiment, and it is contemplated that such embodiments can be combinedwith each other in various combinations or permutations. The scope ofthe invention should be determined with reference to the appendedclaims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claimsare entitled.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system, comprising: a memory device; and aprocessing device operably coupled to the memory device, the processingdevice configured to perform operations comprising: identifying a readscan condition of the memory device the read scan condition beingassociated with a future trigger that causes a read scan; monitoring thememory device to identify an occurrence of an idle state; and initiatingthe read scan in response to the occurrence of the idle state, the readscan being initiated to occur before the future trigger.
 2. The systemof claim 1, wherein the read scan condition is determined from a stateof the memory device.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the read scan isconfigured to sample data at multiple locations of the memory device byperforming reads at the multiple locations.
 4. The system of claim 1,wherein the idle state corresponds to an absence of operations initiatedon the memory device from a host.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein thefuture trigger is an identified time based on a scheduled time interval.6. The system of claim 5, wherein the initiating of the read scan occurspreemptively upon entering the idle state during a time period prior tothe identified time.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein the futuretrigger is a frequency-based event.
 8. The system of claim 1, whereinthe read scan condition is identified from a predetermined eventoccurring within the processing device.
 9. The system of claim 1,wherein the read scan condition is identified from an attribute providedin the memory device.
 10. A method comprising: identifying, by aprocessing device, read scan condition of a memory device the read scancondition being associated with a future trigger that causes a readscan; monitoring the memory device to identify an occurrence of an idlestate; and initiating the read scan in response to the occurrence of theidle state, the read scan being initiated to occur before the futuretrigger.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the read scan condition isidentified from an attribute provided in the processing device.
 12. Themethod of claim 10, wherein the read scan condition is identified froman attributed provided in one or more modules in a firmware of a systemcomprising the processing device.
 13. The method of claim 10, whereinthe read scan condition is determined from a state of the memory device.14. The method of claim 10, wherein the read scan is configured tosample data at multiple locations of the memory device by performingreads at the multiple locations.
 15. The method of claim 10, wherein theidle state corresponds to an absence of operations initiated on thememory device from a host.
 16. The method of claim 10, wherein thefuture trigger is an identified time based on a scheduled time interval.17. A system, comprising: a memory device; and a processing deviceoperably coupled to the memory device, the processing device configuredto perform operations comprising: initiating a read scan in response tothe memory device entering an idle state; stopping the read scan inresponse to the memory device entering an active state; and resuming theread scan in response to re-entering the idle state.
 18. The system ofclaim 17, wherein the operations further comprise: initiating a wearleveling operation in response to the memory device entering the idlestate.
 19. The system of claim 17, wherein the read scan performssampling of a raw bit error rate (RBER) from multiple locations in thememory device using multiple read voltages among the multiple locations.20. The system of claim 19, wherein the operations further comprise:performing a read voltage calibration in response to the RBER exceedinga predetermined threshold.